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vanact

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jtc

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a freind has passed.. his 84 year old wife is going to a assit living home. his daughter is 60 years old and works full time. she lives about 20 mintues from her mother and faters house.should we keep the water shut off but the meter still going min.bill and turn on as needed along with the hot water heater
 
Usually the re-connect charge will outweigh the monthly minimum, but it depends on the length of time it will be off. Only way to really tell is to call the utility- they get asked that question every day and will have the answer for you.
 
I think you should find out if she can handle switching on a breaker and turning on the main water supply in the house in the proper sequence. If she can, I think I would shut them off until weather requires you to leave them on, nothing worse than a broken pipe running for a couple of weeks before someone finds it.
 
Shut the water off in the basement before the meter. This fall remove the meter and set it on the floor and drain the system down. Anti freeze in the toilets and sink traps. Drain water heater and shut off breaker if house wont be kept at 50 degrees.
 
I'm assuming you have talked to the daughter, or whoever will be handling the property.

That person needs to know the water has been turned off and be able to contact you to know where to turn it back on, that the water heater is off, anything drained, etc. Don't want them to not know what is going on and have them pay a plumber a service call.

As for the water, probably be best to keep the meter on and pay the minimum. Some cash strapped utility providers take advantage of the situation with high reconnect fees, meter deposits, service deposits, etc.

As for gas and electric, leave them connected too. Especially if the house is getting old. They may require an inspection or upgrade before they will turn them back on.

Of course, everything will need to be drained before winter, or the heat kept on. Hopefully the property will be occupied before then.

Sorry for your loss.
 
jtc- You also need to check what 'ordinances' may apply
to having your water shut off.

I had a house in a city that I rented to a family. After
they moved, I didn't rent the house out again to anyone
else. I had the utilities shut off and I "winterized" the
home.

Unbeknownst to me, the city has an ordinance that "if the
water is shut off for over thirty days the house is
CONDEMNED by the city".

The city has "red tagged"(condemned) hundreds of homes
each year. They demolished my house without even letting
me know.
 
Turning the utilities off may cause a drastic increase in her home owners insurance if they find out about it are a claim is turned in and they find out the hose was vacant.
 
Keep the home ready for someone to move in today. that means keeping the power on and if you are on a metered water system the water turned on. Just turn the water off only as you would when going on a weeks vacation. And when you check on the house every week turn on the power and lights and any other things you can as in fans so the meter records power is being used, same thing with water, flush the stool several times to show use. You just want the water shut off when you are gone so if something malfunctioned the house does not get flooded And keep furniture in. If you do not do these things in order to keep insurance in efect on the house as I am sure you want to and should do The insurance will be invallidated. I found this out after my inlaws passed and we sold the personal property at auction and while the property to sell with a realator. If you do not do that you have to go with getting a vacant property designation that is very hard to get. We were told to find and put in a table and chairs to make it as someone was living there. And put a light visible in the living room window set on a timer and good idea to put one in bedroom as well set on a diferent time timer to make it looked ocupied. I am guessing that the assisted living place she probably cannot move everything to and will want to keep the home till she is gone with some personal items left in. Makes a big difference if she takes everything out or leaves somethings in. A made up bed would be a good idea to keep in as well to meet the requirement of being used to keep insurance up. When My folks passed and house was empty and being remodeled had same problems with insurance but not as bad because it was being worked on.
 
Whichever way you go another thing to remember is over time the water in the traps of the plumbing fixtures will evaporate.
I came across this situation once, sewer gas smelled so bad inside we thought there was a gas pipe leaking.
 
(quoted from post at 19:54:13 07/25/17) Keep the home ready for someone to move in today. that means keeping the power on and if you are on a metered water system the water turned on. Just turn the water off only as you would when going on a weeks vacation. And when you check on the house every week turn on the power and lights and any other things you can as in fans so the meter records power is being used, same thing with water, flush the stool several times to show use. You just want the water shut off when you are gone so if something malfunctioned the house does not get flooded And keep furniture in. If you do not do these things in order to keep insurance in efect on the house as I am sure you want to and should do The insurance will be invallidated. I found this out after my inlaws passed and we sold the personal property at auction and while the property to sell with a realator. If you do not do that you have to go with getting a vacant property designation that is very hard to get. We were told to find and put in a table and chairs to make it as someone was living there. And put a light visible in the living room window set on a timer and good idea to put one in bedroom as well set on a diferent time timer to make it looked ocupied. I am guessing that the assisted living place she probably cannot move everything to and will want to keep the home till she is gone with some personal items left in. Makes a big difference if she takes everything out or leaves somethings in. A made up bed would be a good idea to keep in as well to meet the requirement of being used to keep insurance up. When My folks passed and house was empty and being remodeled had same problems with insurance but not as bad because it was being worked on.
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